Protecting My Love
by Mrs. Alex Kurosaki
Summary: Seto is very protective, and very possessive of those he loves. Will he ever accept you into Mokuba's life, or is he upset you're with Mokuba for a different reason than he lets on?
1. Chapter 1

AN: I wrote this while FOS was down and before GOTVG came back up.

You can blame Luna for a majority of the works in progress I have for Seto actually...

Warning: There's some non-con stuff in this story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh, Seto, Mokuba, or you.

* * *

His lips roughly crash against yours in a passionate kiss. Such need... such desire...

When did Seto Kaiba ever feel like this?

He suddenly bites down on your bottom lip, leaving a throbbing pain but at the same time, the fire that you felt starting at your lips soon begins to spread throughout your body.

Your wrists hurt from the strong hold he has on them but soon enough, that's forgotten as he pushes you against the wall and pins your hands above your head.

Every barb of pain you feel makes you whimper and shut your eyes. But this just makes Kaiba growl at you.

The hold he has on your hands never lessened as he runs one of his hands slowly down your body, mapping each and every one of your curves.

Once he reaches your hips, he stops his exploration of you, seemingly content with just rubbing his hand from your hip to your ass.

Without warning, he suddenly yanks your right leg up by the back of your thigh and bites down on your neck. You scream out in pain but can't help the fact that it sounds more like a moan of pleasure. Kaiba smirks darkly at you, his plan working just as he expected.

 _'I KNEW it! She's just a slut trying to take my brother's money'_ he thinks to himself.

You pant heavily, your head bowed down as he continues roughly sucking on your neck after the bite.

 _'Mokuba...'_ you think to yourself. The thought of the love of life ever finding out about this fills you with dread and horror, but most of all guilt... Guilt, not because you wanted this but because, despite the force being used, your traitorous body is enjoying this...

You can _feel_ Kaiba's roaming eyes and the heat radiating off of his nether region...

You suddenly gasp as Kaiba starts grinding his hips against your core. You start squirming, trying to get out of his grasp but he just takes your attempts as further proof of your "façade."

"Please, please Kaiba, PLEASE, I'm begging you..."

 _'Here it comes...'_ he thinks triumphantly to himself.

With a shaky breath, you say "Kaiba, please let me go..."

"WHAT?!" he roars at you but you don't respond.

He releases your hands and thigh only to roughly pull your chin up to see your face. Your cheeks are streaked with tears; your eyes are all puffy and red. You sniffle miserably but despite your pathetic look, this fuels a fire in the pit of his stomach, a fire he mistakes as hate...

He pins his hands at the sides of your head and presses his body against yours. You move your hands to the wall and turn your face away from him, trying to shrink into the wall.

"Let. You. Go? What kind of stupid request is that?"

The look on his face is murderous. You have to take caution with your words.

"I-I…I love Mokuba. I won't do anything to hurt him."

He takes a step away, making you fall—you had been on the tips of your toes in a stupid attempt to make yourself as flat against the wall as possible.

You breathe a sigh of relief thinking this whole ordeal is over but realize you're wrong when you feel a sharp sting against the left side of your face. Your cheek, temple, and ear throb in pain from the force of Kaiba's blow...

"You slut! I know you're lying! Why else would you give off so much heat!"

You were terrified of Kaiba but being called a slut hit a nerve. You _hated_ being called a slut as it brought back painful memories from your childhood...

You're grandmother's words ring in your head: _"You fucking slut! Go put on a different shirt! You're just asking to be raped, aren't you?"_

Wearing a v-neck was wrong apparently. Never mind that you were only thirteen, a child. Never mind that you were not in a relationship or sexually active. Never mind that you didn't even _like_ people like that! No, you were asking to be raped, and you were a slut.

Whenever she was upset, she always called you a slut, and she didn't care who was around. Middle school and high school was hell from then on…

"I am **not** a slut you jackass! You were the one who started violating **me**! I don't even know how you came to the conclusion that it'd be 'ok' for you to try to get all over me! You're a disgusting, sick, **selfish** bastard!"

Kaiba was fuming by the time you were done. As a very successful business man, he was used to getting what he wanted. And if he couldn't, he'd destroy what he couldn't have. He wanted YOU away from Mokuba. He knew Mokuba loved you and would do basically anything for you but he didn't believe you felt the same about him. He was going to prove it by showing him how easily you jumped into his lap. But his plan wasn't working so far, thus leaving him VERY _bothered_...

Just as he was about to tell you something, you cut him off.

"You sure _I_ was the one giving off the heat? You _were_ using a very faulty region of your body after all..." you say while taking a quick peek toward his pants.

Without needing to look down, he suddenly becomes aware of the constraining feeling, and, extremely upset, storms out of his office.

' _I'll prove she's lying, even if it's the last thing I do!'_ he thinks angrily at himself.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey babe," you hear a sweet voice call.

You look up, still in a daze. You get up from your desk and walk over to him but you can't get it out of your head.

 _'Did Seto Kaiba seriously sexually harass me?'_ you ask yourself yet again.

"Hey," you respond weakly once closer to him.

"What happened?!" he asks in shock when he gets a good look at your face.

You don't know what he's talking about until he gingerly strokes your cheek.

With a wince, you recoil from his touch.

 _'Fuck… I forgot that he punched me…'_

A bruise had started to form on your cheek, and seemed to expand throughout all the side of your face.

You bring your hand up to your face to hide your cheek, but you just smile gingerly and say you fell while carrying some stuff from your office.

"Honestly, it's no big deal," you say when he tries to get more information.

He huffs a bit before saying "I swear, you would be better off working in my department than here."

 _'You have no idea...'_

"Well, maybe next time there's an opening, you could actually tell me so I can apply," you say with an attempt at a teasing smile.

He just laughs and leans down to kiss you.

You still haven't let him live down the fact that he worked so hard to convince you to come work at Kaiba Corps with him so you could see each other more often, yet you were forced to work under his brother's supervision instead of his because he never told you what position to apply for.

 _"Come on! You should totally be my secretary," he said._  
 _You leaned down and nuzzled into his chest before saying, "You just wanna roleplay is all, don't you?"_  
 _He laughed before agreeing: "That_ is _part of it. But I mostly just want to see you more often. I'm always at work during the week, and you're always doing photo shoots over the weekend to get extra money. Work at Kaiba Corps and you'll have enough money from one job and we'll also be able to see each other more often too."_

It had been a great idea, but he never told you what job application would be specifically to be his secretary.

That's why, when the current secretary said you'd be Mr. Kaiba's secretary, you didn't realize that meant _Seto_ Kaiba's.

Nine months now you've been working for Kaiba. Nine months now you've been dealing with his disdain and trying to get his approval.

 _'Obviously_ that's _never happening...'_

But after what you dealt with, you don't care. As long as he never touches you again, he can shove his approval up his ass.

"I'll talk to Seto about—"

"No!" you yell.

Shock comes over his face at your reaction, and you back away.

 _'Damn it... I hope I didn't make it obvious...'_

You walk back towards your desk, keeping your face away from Mokuba.

You're scared.

You don't want him to talk to Seto because you're scared about what Seto will tell him.

You don't want him to talk to Seto because you're scared what Mokuba will believe.

But most importantly, you're scared because a part of you doesn't want to accept what happened.

You stare at your wrists as you reach forward to finish typing a document you had been working on earlier. The pain of his hold is still very much there, but you don't think. You're numb.

"Babe?" Mokuba calls yet again.

You turn back towards him again, but say no words. You just scrunch your eyebrows in confusion.

His lips are hard pressed, pensive, before he speaks.

"What happened with Seto?"

You open your mouth to speak, but you falter, only letting out a small strangled noise.

 _'What do I say?'_ you question.

You hesitate, but you can tell by his posture that he knows that something is wrong. Before he can get any more suspicious, you shake your head and say, "I... I'd rather you not talk to him."

His voice is harsh as Mokuba asks, "Why?"

His arms are crossed, and his feet are planted firmly in the ground. Determination is laced in that question, and you know he won't let it go until he gets a solid answer.

Suddenly, the door opens. Kaiba comes in, face staring straight at some documents in his hands as he coldly asks, "[Last Name], have you finished cleaning up the mess you made?"

You narrow your eyes at him.

"Yes," you reply venomously, "it's taken care of."

Tension fills the air as you bit the inside of your cheek. The clock besides the door _ticks_ unnervingly. You hold your breath, not sure what will happen.

Seto looks up, finally, and nods at Mokuba. You can see him visibly soften as he looks Mokuba over.

"Mokie, do you want to go out to lunch?" he asks him as he walks toward his baby brother.

Mokuba only tightens his jaw, and walks towards you instead.

"I was actually here to take [Y.N.] out to lunch."

Kaiba bristles at that. His eyebrow shoots up immediately in irritation, but he nods before stepping out.

At the doorway he says, "She has half an hour. She needs to be back after that so she can finish filing the documents for the new merger before 2 pm."

You roll your eyes and let out a small huff.

 _'Won't even turn to look at us, will he?'_

"She'll be back when we're done," Mokuba responds.

Kaiba's shoulders raise slightly, but that's all they get before he shuts the door hard behind him.

You look after Mokuba for a second as he continues to stare at the door, but then you turn your chair back towards the computer.

Your hands hover over the keyboard as you read over the document on the screen.

The insertion point blinks quietly as you stare towards the computer, and then finally focus on Mokuba's reflection on the monitor.

The reflection is blurry, but you can see enough. He's looking at you, and his hands are balled in fists.

"We're going to lunch?" you ask over your shoulder as you begin to type the last section of the document.

The fight the chill coming over you as he only stares.

Only the quiet _clack_ of the keyboard fills the air.

"What happened?"

You flinch at the stoic tone of his voice.

You reach towards the mouse and begin to save the document as you say, "Nothing."

You hear as he takes two quiet steps towards you.

"What happened?"

You shrug your shoulders as you scroll to the top of the document once more and begin scanning it quickly.

"Nothing," you repeat.

He steps forward again, and it's not until you feel his breath on your ear that you realize how quickly he moved.

"What. Happened?" he asks once more.

You inhale sharply as your mind runs to the memory of _someone_ biting your neck. You had moved your hair over to that side of your neck to cover your wound from the air, but now trepidation fills you as Mokuba's hand slowly starts pulling small strands of your hair toward your back.

You make a sharp turn to the right and scoot back in your chair as you quickly say, "We can talk about it later. Right now, I'm starving. Can we go?"

He's leaning over you, hands gripping both arm rests tightly. You try to breathe evenly, but you can't help but feel that you're failing miserably. He finally breaks the eye contact, only to stare at your neck as he backs up.

He stays quiet, but walks towards the door.

With quiet irritation, he asks, "The usual?"

You hold back the sigh of relief, knowing this is far from over. But at least you can talk about it later, and most importantly, away from here.

"Yeah, the usual..."


	3. Chapter 3

"Hello, my name is Isaac. I'll be your server today," a young lanky man says from when he reaches your table. "Can I get you guys started on anything before you order?" he asks with a cheerful grin.  
 _'Man, I wish I could go back to the days when I could keep a grin plastered on my face no matter what,'_ you think to yourself worryingly.  
"Water, please," you respond quietly.  
Immediately after, Mokuba says, "make that two. Also, we're ready to order now."  
Your cheek twitches nervously when you hear his words, as you had been hoping to be able to use the menu as an excuse to stall some more.  
 _'Guess he realized what I was doing...'_  
Mokuba quickly rattles off your usual orders: a club sandwich for you and a chicken salad for him. Then the server leaves cheerfully, promising to get the food here in a less than five minutes.  
 _'I'm going to count then. I need it ASAP.'_

His departure is immediately followed by uncomfortable silence. You can feel Mokuba staring you down, but do your best to not look at him.

To ease the awkward lack of conversation, you take in your surrounds for once. You notice the quiet chatter from the front of the diner, and how your usual spot really has the best lighting. You also realize just how isolated your usual booth is compared to the rest of the store at the moment. You can count a total of three other people in your line of view, but only one of them is a fellow customer.

You look at the diamond shaped clock hanging above the door heading towards the outside tables, and figure out how long is left until your food arrives.

"Stop shaking your foot," Mokuba states, startling you.

You flinch, pulling your foot closer to you immediately.

 _'Since when did he start sounding so much like his brother?'_ you wonder, chewing the inside of your cheek nervously. You fight the urge to play with your hair as you fear you might just show the bite mark you've been trying to hide. You finally take a quick glance at him before looking down to look for your cell phone.

The sound of him inhaling deeply sounds as loud as a jack hammer in this quiet; your heart starts to race as you prepare yourself mentally for the conversation you're about to have.

"So, how has your day been?" he questions, hesitation laced in the tiniest pauses.

You hold back a stark laugh, trying not to sound too relieved as you answer honestly.

"Stressful."

You give him a half smile that you know doesn't come close to reaching your eyes, but as you look into his _, really look_ , you can see that he looks scared too.

Before the silence can become awkward again, you add, "Your brother's been very focused on the Otonashi project, but the merger with the Kuran Company has been very complicated as of late. They seem to be drawing it out as much as they can to try to wear us down on some of the clauses your brother refuses to budge on."

He nods, completely understanding. You begin to feel more relaxed, and let your foot ease forward. Just as you expected, his foot comes out to reach yours too.

He gulps audibly. With a shaky breath he asks, "That's it?"

You close your eyes, unable to look at him as you agree, but smile, thankful that this seems to be smoothing over just fine.

"Your brother's just been very testy, and he may or may not have given the impression that he was going to fire me if I didn't get him those documents ASAP. That's why I didn't want you to talk to him."

Mokuba rolls his eyes, giving a quiet chuckle. He reaches his hand forward, and you gladly interlace your fingers with his.  
"If that's all that it was, just give it a week. He'll be back to his annoyingly apathetic self in no time."

You raise an eyebrow at his words, but mumble out, "If you say so."

The food gets there then, and a good seven minutes after the promised time you notice, but it's fine. You're no longer scared that Mokuba will find out his brother sexually harassed you, nor that he'll think it wasn't harassment.

You both jovially eat, stealing food off of each other's plates, and laughing as he recounts the most recent adventures in the graphic design department.

So many people have such a hard time believing that was the vice-president of KaibaCorps' main position, but it was true. He loved art as much as he loved cooking, and he was a genius in both. This week's most recent adventure seemed to be that Hatachiin hair dye company was having a hard time conveying the feel of what they were going for.

"So they each dyed their hair. One blue and one pink! Then went around doing a dramatic monologue, and interrupting each other as they went to make snarky comments at one another, but they had a huge grin on their faces the entire time. They had us in hysterics!"

Mokuba painted the scene so vividly, you could practically see the peculiar pair throwing their hands out dramatically, and suddenly snapping around to yell at one another while giving flirtatious winks to whoever happened to be closest to them.

"So did you end up making a winking devil with an angel halo for their design?" you ask around a laugh.

He all but chokes on a fry as he takes in what you say, and soon begins using the ketchup from your plate and some ranch from his to start drawing a design on a napkin from the dispenser.

Normally he always has a pencil and a small notepad just for this very situation.

 _'Guess he was really worried...'_

You giggle at his impromptu finger painting session, and grin when he brings up his masterpiece for you to see.

It's simple. It looks like a smiley face, with the lack of color signifying the eyes, and a distinctive half smile that reminds you of a certain someone's smirk that promises lots of fun.

As you look at this certain someone, you see that very smirk plastered on his face and can't help laugh.

"I love it," you tell him effusively.

That devilish smirk soon has him quirking an eyebrow as he quickly scans the room. The fellow patron from earlier has long gone, and the other workers are busy either in the kitchen or with other customers, so you two are all alone.

His eyes glow with a desire that soon has your stomach doing flips, and before you know it, he pops his thumb in his mouth and expertly licks the condiments off.

You bite your lip at the actions, and watch with keen interest.

"Would you like a taste, my love?" he asks seductively.

You feign disinterest at that point, and turn your nose away.

"My dear, I believe I have better sense than wrapping my lips around that digit you offer me, and sucking _ever_ so softly."

Yes, this is beginning to get into foreplay grounds for you two, and, as much as you enjoy the foreplay, it never lasted long. Right on que, that leg that had been so reassuring against you earlier that he had no doubts about you soon begins to rub up and down your leg.

You lean back and cross your legs, refusing to let him take the lead, and pop your last fry into your mouth.

"Mokie... I'm already done eating. You?"

He looks down at his plate. All the chicken is long gone, but a good portion of his greens are still on the plate. Though you're his girlfriend, you still take a very motherly role with him when it comes to his health since he didn't acquire the best habits from his brother. So, he knows that if he wants to leave the diner any time soon, he needs to wolf those greens down as fast as he can. And wolf them down he does.

Five minutes later, the food was all paid for and he was speeding down the block to your apartment.

Yes, your apartment was in the opposite direction from KaibaCorps, but you had some more urgent business that you two wanted to attend to.

 _'Chip-on-his-shoulder Seto can wait,'_ you think to yourself as you and Mokuba crash through the door in a kissing frenzy.

He's touching you everywhere, pulling you closer, and heading for your couch. A bed may be more comfortable, but the couch always seemed more fun when you guys were on a time crunch.

Sure, you may not want to go back to work. But Mokuba still had to finish the Hitachiin Dye project soon, and the sooner he did that, the sooner you two can have more free time together.

But it's been a while since you last had each other like this, and you both want some time alone.

You're so caught up in the moment, helping him pull off his belt, trying to quickly unbutton your shirt, you forget about something important...

It's in the midst of Mokuba pulling you onto his lap so that you'd be able to grind against him, and him starting to move your hair that you start to feel the throbbing again.

It was still sore from earlier. And all this excitement was making your blood rush, and making your new bruise hurt even more.

You inhale sharply as you pull away from him, and get down on your knees.

"Lets... lets not do that right now, yeah?" you ask.

You rock backwards and sit on your bum. Your chest suddenly feels tight, and you can't stop blinking.

 _'Why am I crying?'_ you wonder.

"Why are you crying?" Mokuba asks, suddenly panicking.

You try to smile, to tell him you're not crying, but your lip keeps quivering and stopping you.

All you can do is mumble, "I'm sorry" as you get up and try to run to the bathroom, but he grabs a hold of your wrist before you can get far.

You pull, and try to get away, but he pulls you into his embrace- and moves your hair.

The moment you feel him tense up, you start bawling, sure he's never going to want to see you again.

Instead, with obvious resolute anger in his voice, Mokuba asks, "Who did this to you?"


	4. Chapter 4

AN: I feel a little iffy about this one, and would like to give a trigger warning to everyone before they start reading this chapter that there is mentions of rape.

I swear I didn't just do it just because though.  
You'll see more about why it's important in the next chapter.

Again, I'm very sorry.

* * *

You don't know why you suddenly remember the rough bruising on your thighs, nor why your wrists begin to ache.  
You feel lightheaded and nauseous, and all you want to do is lie down in your room.  
But you can't.  
Mokuba is holding you tightly, anger burning in his eyes.  
A cold chill comes over the exposed skin of your chest, and bile starts to come up at the back of your throat.  
"I need to chuck," you say as you struggle against him, a hand coming up to help you hold your mouth closed.  
When he sees you gagging, he lets go and you bolt for the bathroom.  
No sooner had you thrown the lid up than did you start heaving everything you had just eaten. Tears leak out with the pressure your body forces you to use to eject all the contents of your stomach.  
Mokuba comes in and leans down next to you, holding your hair behind you as your white knuckles tightly grip the toilet seat.  
You dry heave most of the time, but you do completely empty your stomach in your time above the porcelain seat.  
By the end of it, the back of your throat burns. Your nose stings. And a sticky feeling along your stomach and neck alert you to the bits of spew that have managed to escape their watery fate.  
You gasp for air to try to get rid of the burning feeling, but nothing helps. After you flush the toilet, you stand and disrobe, immediately jumping into the shower.  
You feel dirty for more than just the bits of regurgitation that managed to get over you at the moment.  
You can feel Mokuba's eyes as he examines your nude form, and immediately feel ashamed.  
You can't help but go back to that day, all those years ago.  
When you had just turned 16, and began to loose that childish look in your face-and your body- that had so been yours for so many years.  
 _The sun as it beat down on your group over the lake._  
 _The hot wind as it blew across your face._  
 _The buzzing of bees not too far away, and the sound of wings flapping in the air as birds moved to a cooler spot in the trees._  
 _You sat in the shade, watching your friends as they splashed in the lake. They looked like they were having fun, but you didn't feel comfortable enough taking off your shorts with so many males around._  
 _You sipped from your bottle of lemonade, feeling ever so sleepy with all the warmth, and the nice shade right where you were, but you didn't want to miss out on the fun. For one, once the food was ready, you were going to eat as many hamburgers as you could get away with._  
 _"Why so lonely?" your friend's boyfriend, Anthony, asked._  
 _You glanced at him before turning back to look at your friends._  
 _"Not lonely. Just enjoying nature," you respond. You never much liked him, and didn't really care to talk to him to be honest. You only ever dealt with him because your friend seemed to think he was a nice person._  
 _He nodded as he eyed you out of the corner of his eye._  
 _You could tell he was giving you a funny look, so you scooted closer to the tree, and away from him._  
 _A gaping silence comes over the two of you, and it's broken once you hear him scoot closer to you, the sound of leaves crushing as he did so._  
 _The smell of beer wafts off of him in waves, and you fight the urge to cover your nose. That would be rude. As much as you disliked him, you could never be rude to people._  
 _"Here, you want a sip?" he asks as he brings up the can he was drinking from._  
 _You were right. It's a red and white can of Budweiser, and you can tell it's not his first by the way his hand sways when he holds it in front of you._  
 _You grumble out a "no thank you" and decide it's time for you to leave._  
 _You stand to go away, and he reaches for your waist._  
 _"Where are you going?" he asks, a sleazy grin coming over his visage._  
 _You pull away and respond, "With my friends."_  
 _He gets up too and takes a step forward; you take your own step back._  
 _"Oh, come on. Let them have their fun. And we can have ours..."_  
When you feel a hand on your shoulder, you jump, bumping back against the wall.  
You're about to yell, "Get away!" but then you see the long, shaggy hair you were drawn to the moment you two met. You see the sharp jawline, and the rough tan skin that you've always loved feeling make contact with yours.  
You inhale deeply through your nose, and turn back to the water.  
"Does Seto know?" Mokuba asks.  
You let the cold water run down your face and body. You pay close attention to each sharp prick of pain as it hits you from head to toe.  
With defeat, you nod.  
Small streaks of warmth intermingle with the cold sliding down your cheeks.  
You hear nothing but the water rushing out of the shower head, and for a moment you think you missed Mokuba leaving.  
All you can think is, _'He doesn't believe me...'_  
With that, your chest begins to ache, and you have to put as much pressure as you can over your heart with your right palm.  
It's difficult to swallow, but once you do, the ache from the vomiting reminds you that you need clean everything.  
Still, you feel like you've lost the energy to do so already.  
With your eyes closed, you lean on your right side against the wall, and let the water hit you from your shoulder down.  
You finally hear a squeek followed by a ruffle of clothing, and finally the scratching of the curtain being pulled slightly open and then closed.  
You squeeze your eyes tight and pull into yourself, making yourself as small as possible.  
Surprise is your only reaction when the feel of gooey liquid goes on top of your head and large fingers work their way around your scalp.  
"Turn around," he says sternly but softly.  
You do as your told but keep your eyes closed, not wanting this dream, this fantasy to end. Because obviously this can't be reality. Obviously you've gone so far into your own mind, you are imagining such an improbable reality to help you deal with the situation.  
After the fingers have worked their way up and down your scalp, these hands push you slightly back into the water, and take off all the suds, then gently massage gooey conditioner into your hair.  
You feel like a baby as you are being washed carefully. You feel as vulnerable due to your nudity, but as protected because of the gentleness behind each motion.  
Yet you keep your eyes closed, not believing what's happening.  
When you're all clean, Mokuba pulls you into his chest and whispers, "We'll get through this, ok."  
You exhale slowly onto his chest, desperately wanting to believe him. Your hands ball tighter over your chest, pinching your skin from the closeness between you two, but all you can do is nod.  
 _'We'll get through this.._


	5. Chapter 5

"Seto, she can't come _in_ right now! ... I told you, because she's sick!"

You lie in your bed tucked in and covered by multiple layers of warm blankets, and pillows all around you.

Part of you feels guilty that Mokuba is making excuses for you, but after what happened, you couldn't bear to go back into work.

After the shower, Mokuba told you you needed to rest, and that he'd take care of everything else, but forty minutes later, and he was still fighting with the cruel ice king over the phone.

"Damn it, Seto, if you really need this stuff done, do it yourself! I mean, unless you really forgot how to type since the last time I saw you..."

There was nothing Kaiba hated hearing more from Mokuba than the notion that having secretaries had made him incapable of doing anything on his own. So Mokie knew that would get him off of your back for at least an hour.

Once he snapped his phone shut, he came over to you, and sat on the other side of your pillow wall, gently brushing his knuckles over your damp hair and cheek. Once your breathing slowed down, he bent down and kissed your forehead. He quietly mumbled that he'd see you soon, and then tip-toed out of your apartment.

Once he was gone, you pulled into yourself, unable to shake the empty feeling from years before.

Last time, there were no gentle hands or patient sittings.

Last time there was no reassurance or understanding.

Last time there was only berating and insults. Judgment and blaming.

 _'Why were you alone?!'_

 _'You shouldn't have let him!'_

 _'You were asking for it! I told you not to go...'_

Last time there was no compassion, and that had completely broken you apart. That's why it was so hard to open up for years, and then you met Mokuba.

With that Cheshire grin and kind smile, he wormed his way into your heart.

He convinced you to let him in past your walls, and you never even realized until it had already happened.

You had never let men into your life after _it_ , but Mokuba somehow always ended up eating with you, chatting with you, joking with you.

There was nothing inherently sexual, or even romantic.

You both just fell into an easy routine of familiarity that blossomed on its own into friendship, and then more once you were ready.

No one knew why you avoided men so terribly.

You had cut all ties from your past the moment you left for college.

And thanks to Mokuba, you had gotten past that.

But now, all you could feel was the emptiness that you so wanted the last time.

Now, all that filled you was the shadow of reality, and the curse of nightmares being relived.

You wallowed in your shell, desperately clinging to the happiness that had overcome you since you met Mokuba.

The movie outing to watch those Marvel movies he loved so much.

The Frisbee tournament he convinced you to partake in, and that you guys eventually won.

That breath taking smile he gave you when you got first place in a photo competition in college.

They all had been such wonderful memories, but at this moment, they felt like they were pictures of someone else's photo album. The looked like reruns from an old television show whose name you could not place.

And then Seto came into your mind.

And then a strange feeling started in the pit of your stomach.

Your face began to flush, and your lip began to curl.

Your head began to pound, and you felt almost as if you were experiencing vertigo.

You let out a deep, pained breath, and then knew what the word was: loathing.

You hated each sharp line of his perfect face.

You despised that long flowing jacket, and all the damn noisy buckles that flowed past your desk every morning, and even since before you became official with Mokuba.

You bit your lip, trying to reign in this sudden burst of hate welling in your chest, when suddenly...

 _CRASH!_

Your door came flying into your room.

You let out a startled cry, as you pulled the blanket closer to your chest, fear suddenly consuming you.

You instinctively shut your eyes tight, afraid of the monster that had come to attack.

Surely, it couldn't be worse than the first monster, but still... You would have felt better if you had something that you could use as a weapon, instead of solely pillows.

Still, since all you had _was_ pillows, you get a tight grasp of the one beneath your left hand, ready to throw at a moment's notice.

"What did you tell him!" the ice king roars at you.

You hadn't realized who it was the moment you heard the sound erupt from his mouth, but you didn't regret throwing the pillow after you had jumped out of bed to reach for whatever heavy item you could get. At the moment, Nora Roberts' _The Villa_ was firmly in your grasp, ready behind your head to swing if anyone came towards you to attack.  
Had you not been so frightened, the look on his face as he caught the sudden pillow attack would have been priceless.

It screamed _'how dare you think me worthy of a pillow to the face! I'm at least worth a golf club!'_

He would have probably gotten along well with Julius Caesar...

Once the adrenaline dies down, you roll your eyes and sit down, resting your forehead on your palm.

"What are you doing here?" you ask, not having a single care about who the hell he think he is.

He storms towards you and asks again: "What did you tell him?"

He's too close. Those piercing blue eyes make you feel cold and frightened and... alone.

You gulp loudly, and your hands shake.

"I-I didn't tell him," you mumble, trying to look anywhere but his eyes.

The hard set of his jaw, and his nose wrinkled in disgust as it is helps steady your nerves.

He hates you as much as you hate him, and then helps calm you.

Because, no matter how much he hates you, Mokuba still loves you just as much.

You repeat again, stronger this time, "I didn't tell him anything. Now get out of my home!"

He backs away, but you keep the book poised. You can't relax. Not as long as he's in here. Not as long as he's alone like this. So you won't relax. Not until he's gone and you lock, double lock, and triple lock every lock in this damn house.

As Seto steps out your bedroom door, he holds the frame and without looking at you asks you, "Why?"

The question catches you off guard, so you don't understand. "Why, what?"

"Why didn't you tell him what I did to you?" he asks. The hand that he had clenched in a fist against the door frame relaxes as he slides it down to chest level.

You hesitate to find your words, unsure of your answer yourself. But as you stare at his worried face, the face of a man who thought he lost his only family, you find your answer.

"Because you're the only constant he's ever had, and I can't... I **won't** take that away from him."


	6. Chapter 6

AN: Sorry it took so long to get the next chapter up. Hope you guys like it!

* * *

It's been a week since you last talked to Mokuba. He tells you that it's because he's busy, or that some stuff came up, but you're sure that it's because neither you nor Seto told him who had been the one to attack you.

Seto told him that he had handled it already.

You had been in the room when he said it. You sat at your desk, trying to get your life back to normal, trying to avoid Mokuba's constant questioning, when Seto came in with some more documents. His demeanor had become a lot less vicious towards you ever since you told him you realized how much his relationship with Mokuba meant.

Yes, he was still cold, but that's just who Seto Kaiba is.

And when he came in that day, and saw that Mokuba still would not stop bringing up such a painful subject, he set the papers down loudly and in a clear voice said, "Look. I know how upset you are, and though it may not seem like it, I realize you are both hurt from what happened."

You had looked up from your computer to look at him. This was the most emotion he'd ever displayed in front of you that wasn't anger!

He caught your surprised eye, and feigning to look at Mokuba, but really looking straight past him and at you, he said, "It will _never_ happen again. I swear, he will never lay a hand on (Y.N.), or cause her pain like what she endured as long as I have a say in it."

His voice never wavered, and his tone was strong and resolute.

It went straight to the core of your being, and really shocked you at how much he seemed to care that you knew you were going to be alright around him now.

As far as Seto was concerned, that was the end of the discussion, so Mokuba never brought it up again.

He honestly couldn't because any time he came to visit you these days, for some reason, Seto happened to need to talk to you or bring you some papers.

Of course you knew it was so Mokuba wouldn't see an opportunity to still try to bring justice for you himself, but you honestly missed being able to talk to him.

He didn't even stop by the apartment anymore.

You realized he was probably upset and feeling hurt that you weren't letting him help you, but you just couldn't.

Are you supposed to throw some random stranger under the bus so that he could feel like he was able to hurt the man that hurt you?

You spent a month with a crippling depression with the likes you hadn't seen in years.

You had been allowed to stay for some time at home to rest, but in that time, most all you did was lie in bed.

If you got up, you just moped around, not wanting to eat or do anything really.

Mokuba came to visit you a few times during that bought, but you had asked him to stop coming since you could see how much you were wearing him down.

Since depression was genetic in your family, you didn't want to do the same thing that you saw your older sister do to your dad when she got like this too.

Her depression was odd. Like you, she wouldn't want to do anything or be around anyone, but if anyone tried to help her or did anything she didn't like, she snapped. And it wasn't some snarky remark or mean comment. It was full out yelling, berating, and sometimes even hitting.

Once she slapped you across the face just because you asked her if she was feeling ok.

In your defense, you thought she was sick because she kept complaining about her stomach hurting.

But after you left and heard her crying behind her door, you realized what was wrong.

So, like your sister did with you when you were younger, you did the same to Mokuba, albeit, not as painfully. At least, you hoped so.

Your cell phone begins to buzz, so you check the notification.

 _'You want to eat?'_

It's Mokuba.

You desperately want to say yes, but you can't.

 _'I already had my lunch. Sorry... :('_

You keep your phone by your hand, waiting for a response, but nothing comes.

The door opens behind you, and part of you hopes that it's Mokie, but instead it's a voluptuous, pretty blond.

"Hello Ms. Kujaku," you tell her once you turn around.

She rolls her eyes before responding.

"How many times do I have to tell you to just call me Mai!"

A half exasperated look consumes her face as she says it, but once she sees your smirk, she waives her hand as if to tell you to forget the whole thing.

You laugh quietly as you get back to work, and then comment over your shoulder at her.

"Are you hear to speak to Mr. Kaiba?"

She strolls over to one of the swivel chairs besides your desk and languidly sits. She crosses her legs, and stretches her long arms behind her back. Her chest pushes forward, and a quiet crack fills the air, making you feel the need to crack your joints yourself. Once she's done, she starts fiddling with one of the bare notepads on your desk, drawing something or other as you continue typing, only taking quick glances at her with your peripheral vision.

"I actually came to check up on you..."

You stop typing for a second, but catch yourself and continue going as if nothing.

Your eyes scan aimlessly over the words on the screen, and you can feel her giving you a questioning look before you respond with a questioning, "Oh?"

"You know, I like the pip squeak. He was an annoying runt when I first met him, but he's not too bad now," she drawls out as she plays with her hair.

You scoff, saying, "You sound like you're going to say you want to date him now."

You've never been one to shy away from the fact that people wanted to date Mokuba. Besides being related to the most powerful man in pretty much every field of science, engineering, and business, he's also ridiculously handsome. Even people much older than him had tried to swoop him off his feet right in front of you. So many have flirted with him to a degree of suggesting taking him to bed right then and there, and all you've ever done was laugh as they did so.

Since you met Mai, you enjoyed teasing her for not being able to turn Mokuba into a blubbering mess like all the other guys have. But this only came about because she'd tease you for your shyness at all times, saying you'd never get anyone to like you if you never talked. Somehow, _she_ came to like you, right? You would always point this out and always ask her "So why can't others?"

As you look at her, expecting an annoyed grin on her face, all you see is poorly hidden worry. You push away from your desk and turn to give her all your attention.

"Mai, why are you checking up on me?"

Your arms are crossed, just like your legs. You tap your left heel in annoyance as you wait for an answer. However, she doesn't seem to want to give one since now all she's doing is grabbing your blue pen and drawing something on the notepad!

"Mai?" you ask again. Her only response is the quiet scratching of your pen. She keeps her arms around the paper, her head bowed over it, thus blocking your view. You can feel yourself getting annoyed as the clock begins to loudly tic the seconds away while she _scratches_ them away.

Finally, you get so annoyed, you yell.

"Mai!"

She rolls her eyes at you again, irritation laced in her own demeanor as well as she huffs while jabbing your pen back in its place and standing up sharply.

"Mokuba wanted me to check up on you, ok!"

She throws her hands up as she growls out a guttural "ugh!" at you while pacing.

 _'Why didn't he ask himself?'_ you wonder.

She paces around your office, seemingly unwilling to leave for whatever reason, until she stops abruptly. She turns to you and says, "I'm going to go get wasted tonight."

It's an automatic, involuntary reaction that you give her when your jaw shifts over to your left and you begin to bite on your lower lip. It's your worried pout because you know what this means. She's going to go drinking to the point that she can't even take a piss without falling, and she's not going to care because she doesn't have a care in the world. God knows what's going to happen to her unless you come along to keep an eye on her because, where as she doesn't worry at all, _ever_ , you "worry way too much" according to your friends.

"There's this cool new bar by my condo, and they serve everything from sex on the beach to fallen froggie shots to fire whiskey!"

You take a deep breath, trying to keep your face natural, but she knows she's got you hook, line, and sinker. You can tell by the way she smirks, and the way the tension in her shoulders slowly starts to evaporate.

Something's on her mind, but apparently she needs some alcohol to help her tell you.

"When do you want me at your house by?" You ask.

"Eight," she murmurs. She take the note she'd been writing on and heads towards the door.

"And _don't_ be late!" She calls over her shoulder before closing the door behind her. You shake your head.

 _'Why do I always have such odd friends?'_ You ask yourself with a small smile.

* * *

End Note: So, what do you guys think? Any guesses as to what Mai is going to tell you?


	7. Chapter 7

"I finished all the reports for the Jihara contract, and finalized the Kakashi settlement today. Also, I'd like to remind you that you have a 10 am meeting tomorrow with president Miyamoto. He asks that you _please_ be discreet about the projects he brings up tomorrow in the meeting."

Seto rolls his eyes at your last point, but keeps quiet throughout. He waves his hand to dismiss you once you finish your report, and then you head back to your office to get your purse and head out. A ringing behind you catches your attention, but a soft "Hello" informs you that you don't have to worry about it. You quickly glance at your wrist watch and see 9:53. Your house is 30 minutes away, but you still need to get ready. Mai only goes to places that have high dress code standards, so you have to put in the extra effort unless you wanted to get stuck outside for the rest of the night. You had that happen to you already twice before. Having that happen a third time in your life is not high on your priority list.

You button up your jacket, heels tapping rapidly, as you make your way out of your office and towards the elevator. You glance at your watch again, and see 9:59.

 _'Shoot, I really need to hurry,'_ you think to yourself.

As you pass an office two doors away from your destination, you see the lamp within on and hear what sounds like arguing. Since the door is ajar, you head over to close it so no one will eavesdrop on them, but stop when you recognize the voices.

"You know better than anyone else that you can't force someone to tell you about this kind of thing if they're not ready," Seto seethes. The iciness in his voice is terrifying, but the crash that comes next is just as bad. Something is broken. In fact, lots of somethings are broken. You stay on the side of the door, making sure to not be seen. A quick look at the nameplate on the wall informs you that this is Mrs. Suzuki's office, but the voice you hear next is not the sweet older lady who is in charge of payroll.

"Quite it already! I know it was you. You're the one that did, _that_! I know you did it to (Y.N.)!"

You inhale sharply through your nose, covering your mouth with your hand to stay quite. An ominous tension fills the air louder than any screaming could.

 _'But, how could he know?'_ you wonder. You didn't tell anyone. You had made sure to keep it to yourself. You didn't want him to know. How did he know?!

"Alright, I'm not going to treat you like a child, and I'm not going to lie. Yes, I'm the one that attacked (Y.N.). To put it bluntly, I thought she was a gold digging whore, and I intended to prove it."

A loud _smack_ fills the air, followed by the sound of spitting a second after. You've had enough. You can't hear this anymore, and you don't want to know how this ends. This is _exactly_ what you didn't want to happen, yet here you were. Tears start building in your eyes, but you just wipe them away, and discreetly remove your shoes. You manage to get three steps away when Mokuba finally speaks again.

"You know, this is more than old. It's pathetic, and cruel, and just... I'm tired of it. I'm tired of not being able to trust the woman I happen to love at the time being alone in the same room as you without finding out you seduced them."

 _'Love at the time...? This has happened before?'_

Seto starts to say something, but Mokuba cuts him off.

"No, shut up!"

You can hear him walk around the room, and panic when you see his shadow coming over the frosted window. You don't hesitate as you jump off to the side, trying to hide besides one of the potted plants near you. It seems to work as Mokuba then continues what he was saying.

"I cheated on her because of you. I want you to know that."

Your knees feel weak, and you press your hand against the wall, trying to find support. Your heart pounds painfully, making your blood rush and making you feel light headed. You can't believe what you just heard. In fact, you refuse. Obviously he just meant he... He flirted with someone else! Yes, that had to be it. It was nothing major. Girls flirt with him all the time. So what if he went along with the flirting for a bit too. She probably had been unprepared for his dazzling smile, and had an unexpected bodily reaction right then and there. He wouldn't have done more than that. He wouldn't...

"(Y.N.) has one hell of a conscious, so when you made that speech about that 'it would never happen again' and her guilty behavior, I put two and two together. You were the one that left her bruised and scared. I figured the reason she kept avoiding me, and couldn't even bear having me touch her was because she wanted you instead."

You've collapsed on the floor. Your hands are outstretched before you to support yourself, but it's too much. How could he believe you had wanted to be with anyone except him? You couldn't even stand _him_ when you first met him, so why would you want Seto like that when the older Kaiba was such an ass?

"She never cheated on you. I want you to know that," the devil himself tells your once faithful angel. The silence that follows is only broken (to you) by the ticking of your watch, and the breathing of the brothers inside. You can't take it anymore. You have to get away. You pick up your shoes—which had luckily landed on the soil of the pot when you collapsed—and run towards the stairwell. Once you get to the first floor, you stop, gasping and sobbing, so you can put on your shoes. You try to calm yourself down, and wipe away all your tears. You use your phone to check your makeup, and are glad that the eyeliner over your left is only just slightly smeared. It won't be noticeable if you move quickly, though your red eyes are a bit of a problem. You take a deep breath, then step out. Kirito, the young security guard at the entrance, tells you goodbye, so you wave your goodbye back.

You are in desperate need of a drink. Looking at the time though, you see you don't really have time to get ready anyways, so you go straight to Mai's place. She has tons of makeup, and maybe she'll have something you can wear if what you're wearing isn't good enough. When you get to her condo, you were right to see that the dress code was in place as Mai is currently wearing a low V-cut dress. The top portion is a rich shade of deep ruby, and the bottom is a form fitting skirt. The skirt portion of the dress starts right under her bust, and runs all the way down to right above her knees. She has her hair curled loosely, and pinned up at the nape of her neck. Her smokey eye is horrifyingly perfect; you wish you could pull off that look as flawlessly as she. The fact of the matter is, she looks absolutely stunning. As you look her up and down appreciatively, you almost forget what you were here in the first place, but soon enough you remember when she says, "Absolutely not! Get in here! We have a makeover to start!"

A half hour later, you have your own Mai Kajuka look ready. You admire your look in the mirror as you come to terms that, yes, this is you. You have a soft smokey eye. The colors are dark, but the look is subdued and mostly just makes your eyes look bigger rather than making you look fierce like Mai—which is fine with you. You're not trying to get anyone's attention the way Mai tends to do. You also have a medium shade of pink lipstick. It's called "fruit punch," and smells like it too. As for your clothes, well, luckily she had some clothes that you felt comfortable yet sexy in. You wear a loose fitting, black shirt that hangs on your shoulders and shows off your neck. You also wear a midnight blue waist cincher that helps emphasize your boobs and showcase the curve of your hips and bottom. You keep your black pencil skirt, and dark blue heels as they match quite well with what Mai has loaned you. As for your hair, you keep it loose and straight. Mai smiles admiringly at you, then a sad look comes over her eyes.

"You ready to go?" she asks. You nod, then off you two go. You both walk instead of drive since Mai always intends on getting shit faced, and tonight, you really need a couple of drinks in your system. Plus, it's only 10 minutes away. You each quietly chatter about this and that, but in all honestly, if anyone were to ask you later on in the night what you talked about, you wouldn't be able to give them a solid answer.

When you get to the entrance, Mai flashes the bouncer a huge smile and gives him a lasting kiss on the cheek.

"Hey, baby girl," the tall man tells her with a wink as she pulls away. She smirks up at him with all the intensity of a smoulder she could muster. "Hiya, Jake. Fancy meeting you here," she tells him around a gentle laugh. He shrugs casually and replies, "I go where the wind calls me, but I guess I must've been chasing after you instead." Mai runs her hand through her bangs as she shakes her head.

"You tease," she tells him. Some people behind you start to complain however, which brings the flirtatious couple back to business.

"Listen, Jake," Mai starts, taking a step closer to him. "You see, my friend here doesn't have a club membership, but she's totally cool. She's here to keep me in line, more than anything." The bouncer, Jake, nods understandingly as he listens to the blond vixen. You say nothing though, but rather look around. It seems like a number of disgruntled people stand much too close to you for your liking, yet you wait patiently.

Finally, she says, "So, I was wondering, you mind letting her in tonight? It's honestly just a onetime thing." He looks you over, and then looks at Mai.

"Anything for you, babe."

With that, he kisses her on the top of the forehead and ushers you two in. Inside, the room is dark except for the rays of green and red light that flash and move in time to the beat. There is three floors visible from your spot, each with a unique atmosphere. Ahead of you is the dance floor. It's packed with numerous college-aged looking people, though they're not the only ones. On the other side, there's a large spiral staircase. Two different floors are connected to the staircase, but unevenly. If the floors were closer together it would be quite easy to just jump from one floor to the next, but hopefully that idea doesn't come to any other person's mind.

The left floor is covered with a thick haze of smoke. You can also see people lazing around on the various seats and cushions. Some even let their legs dangle off the edge, though the guardrail that runs along each floor seems to be enough to prevent people hurting themselves.

Mai grabs your hand and pulls you to the bar. You look around quizzically as you take in everything this club has to offer. It's very different that the type of place you usually go, but then again, you've never been much of a clubber.

"Pick your poison," a cutesy redhead behind the counter tells you. Mai quickly orders up a Bacardi and coke, double tall. When it comes to you, you simply ask for a water cup. There's so much to take in; it's intoxicating on all its own. Mai gives you an annoyed squinty eye, but says nothing. After you each get your drinks, you just turn and watch the activity. It's a pretty rowdy crowd, but it looks like fun. From your spot at the bar, you can smell the smoke from the left upper floor. It has a sweet scent to it, mixed with bits of burning ash and a slight hint of skunk.

 _'I guess they don't care what you smoke as long as it's in the smoking section,'_ you think to yourself. You take a measured gulp of your water so as to catch a piece of ice, then chew on it thoughtfully as the events from earlier that night come to mind. You have to wonder, why does Seto do it? Obviously he loves his brother, but is he just selfish about his love? Or is he maybe... jealous?

A tap on your shoulder distracts you from your thoughts. When you turn, it's another bar tender. He looks a lot like the redhead from earlier, but he has an innocence to him where as she had something that seemed to promise mischief. He gives you a shy smile and points out a raven-haired man with green eyes on the other side of the bar. "Mr. Otagi says drinks are in him tonight." He then hands you a bright green drink with a red cherry on top. You resist letting your eyebrow go up in annoyance and give the young man before you a sweet thank you as you take the drink gingerly. You turn to green-eyed man and say thanks, but don't hide the annoyed eye roll that follows just because, honestly, he's too far to notice that. You turn to Mai, who you just now notice is on her 8th double shot, and hand her the drink.

"Nice! But why'd you order a Midori Sour if you weren't going to drink it?" she asks. You then tell her that some guy on the other side of the bar is paying for her drinks and sent her the green concoction. She accepts the explanation—as well as the drink—happily, and then chases down her drink with two shots of a Short Southern Screw.

You watch her with mild admiration as she gets up and ambles over to the dance floor. How she can hold so much liquor down without so much as a tipsy trip, you have no idea. You'd love to ask her where it all goes, but you doubt she knows herself. She begins her usual sultry dance by feeling the music with her hands in the air, and then moving her body to the beat. She doesn't look like she's going to do anything stupid—thank god she hasn't had enough alcohol—so you turn back to the bar and ask for a water bottle. You make sure to let the bartender know about the tab situation, and that all of your friend's drinks were to be as if for you as well. When you turn back to check on Mai, you see that she now has a dance partner. A young brunette man with tan skin and blue eyes is flush against her as they move in time to the steady rock beat coming from the sound system around you.

Normally you'd hurry to her side and remove her from a handsy stranger, but as you watch, you notice his slight blush and the fact that his hands never roam farther than her waist or anywhere near her bust. You begin to quietly laugh when you see that Mai is doing her darnest to tease him senseless, his blush growing ever brighter as she does so.

After another couple of dances, she whispers something in his ear and walks back towards you. His face is bright red while he watches after her. Suddenly he gasps and runs off to the side. You laugh out loud at his reaction, and nearly choke on the water you were drinking. Mai chuckles, patting your back. Your eyes water and your nose burns until you finally catch your breath.

"Jeez, child! Do we have to forbid you from laughing while drinks are around?" Mai asks you, smirk plastered on her face. You gulp water around your gulps of air before responding, "Only if you're going to make your boy toys run off with their first hard-ons while I'm drinking." She laughs just as you had at the image, then orders two more shots. As the drinks are being prepared, she sighs, looking over the dance floor and quietly mumbles, "Varon was always a sweetheart..."

You look at her curiously with your peripheral vision, and wonder just why she looks so melancholic all of a sudden. When she gets her shots, a psychedelic colored drink this time, she holds one before her lips for a minute obviously thinking about something that's troubling her. The only reason you don't ask her what's wrong right then and there is because you're surrounded by people, complete strangers who have no business knowing any of Mai's business, so you hold off. You look at your watch and see that is already 1:41. You can already tell you're going to have a hard time waking up this morning, but Mai needs you. More than you had previously thought before.

Mai's hand suddenly cups your cheek and she declares her feelings for you: "You know, I love hanging out with you. You're a sweetheart and one of my best friends. I love you more than it might show."

You're thrown off by the sudden physical contact, and especially by her sudden love declaration, but you assume maybe the alcohol is starting to affect her. You smile at her reassuringly and tell her you love her too while patting her hand. Her eyes begin to water though. With surprising speed, you grab a handful of napkins and drag Mai out by the hand. You find a quiet corner, which turns out to be the door leading to the back exit, and ask her what's wrong.

"I didn't do it on purpose," Mai tells you ominously. You shake your head, not understanding, and tell her to explain.

She takes your water bottle from your hands and downs it in a single gulp. "You know me. I'm a tease. I don't even try most of the time; it just happens."

She stares over your shoulder as she says this. You turn and see the oh so innocent Varon from earlier awkwardly dancing, looking around obviously for Mai and understand what she's saying. It's a fact that everyone who's friends with her understand.

So why is she telling you this now?

"One second I was just talking, flirting without meaning to, you know. The next, he was kissing me and my head was spinning from the lack of air and... I don't know. I just forgot, couldn't think straight the more he kissed me."

Your blood begins to run cold, an empty feeling building in the pit of your stomach. This is Mai. She's the girl who can have whoever, but usually only goes for the goofballs like that one Wheeler dude you met at your JC.

And she doesn't usually feel bad about who she sleeps with because she always ends up in a relationship. Besides, even if she didn't, she's in charge of her sexuality, and no one can tell her anything about it. It's her life.

"I don't know how, but we... We ended up in some clo-closet a-and..."

Tears pour down silently from her eyes, ruining her perfect smokey eye and making her mascara run. You feel yourself becoming numb, but things just start feeling different. Wrong.

You feel like you're in a dream, and you can't really change things, but you can do something. You can't bring yourself to care about what she's going to say, yet you're terrified to know what she's going to tell you. The only thing you can focus on right now is her makeup. You reach up and wipe the smearing mess before it can go further and wipe her tears away carefully.

"Mai—"

Before you can tell her to stop, that it doesn't matter, your quiet fear comes true.

"I slept with Mokuba!"


	8. Chapter 8

AN: I was on a roll, and then school started again. This might be the last chapter for a couple of weeks... .

* * *

 _A long hall stretches before you. It's looks so familiar, but still so strange. At the end of the hall, you can see an elevator. The light indicating the floor tells you that it's at the very top, and slowly making its way down._

 _A_ crash _behind you scares you, as does the sound of almost-there, shaky breaths. You don't want to be here, you want to get away. Then the_ ring _of the elevator reaching a new_ _floor_ _hits your ears. It echoes loudly, ominously. The sound stretches for far too long. Yet, by the end of it, you find that you had started moving. Slowly when you first heard it, but as it stretched on, a desperation filled you. You had started running, and now you can't stop._

 _Doors slowly begin to open around you. A_ creak _on your left, a_ squeak _to the right. As you get closer, the doors begin to open more rapidly, and the elevator moves faster._

'I'm not going to make it!'

 _Your lungs burn, and your legs shake while you run as if the devil is on your heels. You have to get away, you have to! The elevator is your only way out. And the closer you get, the louder the sounds from before become._

 _Sobbing rings out from all sides, and the crashing is so intense, you keep thinking something is going to come straight at you with the next door to open._

 _Finally, you're three doors away! But each door looks so far... Your legs begin to move irritatingly slow, as if you were running through wet sand with baggy, wet sweatpants._

 _You run, practically throwing yourself so you can move faster. Just as the light for the floor right above yours turns off, you manage to reach the button, and jam it with all your strength. You breathe a sigh of relief as the ding signifying your floor resounds through the hall and quiets everything in a flash._

 _You finally feel free, safe. Then the doors open._

 _And the slow, satisfied sound of moans tumbles out from the opening doors. Before you is your best friend, voicing all the pleasure she was receiving. Yet, her face is marred by a tortured look of guilt. Her make-up is ruined, and tears pour down from her eyes. Before her is a handsome man with long black hair and perfect tan skin. You recognize those arms. You recognize that back..._

 _He continues to thrust his hips forward, roughly into Mai, but he slowly turns towards you. A hard look envelopes his features, yet his eyes are hidden from view by his bangs._

 _"I did it because of you," he whispers._

 _As his words continue sounding on the small space, the image before you starts to fade away suddenly while the elevator begins to ring, and continue ringing even faster, and faster._

 _Riiiiiiiiiing!_

You fall off the sofa, and look around in terror.

 _'Where am I?'_ you ask yourself in a daze. You pick up your ringing cell phone and turn off your alarm. It's 5:15. You groan as you remember the 10 am meeting later today, and that you're in Mai's house. You turn off your phone to look at your reflection, and see that you look like a mess.

"I only slept two hours," you grumble to yourself as you head off to the bathroom. As you pass Mai's room, you take a quick peek in. She lays huddled on her bed, wrapped tightly in various different blankets. You quickly look away and rub your eyes, trying to forget about last night, and about that horrible dream you just had. You have work to do, and right now is absolutely _not_ the time to deal with this.

You make your way to the bathroom, grabbing an extra towel from the closet in front if the bathroom door, and then take care of all the usual morning things.

You want to leave quickly, so you're typical hour and a half long routine is shortened to a little under 20 minutes. This is more from the fact that you don't have your makeup or clean clothes on your person anyhow. You were in such a rush to get to Mai's last night, you forgot about it.

Thoughts of why you were is such a rush keep coming to the forefront of your mind as you dry yourself off. Your clothes present a welcome, albeit irritating, distraction. Since you dislike the feeling of wearing the same underwear for more than one day, you refrain from putting it on again. Though, your skirt is long enough to hide this fact. As for your outfit, you were just going to have to wear the same thing until you can make a stop at your apartment. You grab the spare toothbrush Mai kept for you for days like today, and scrub your teeth quickly. After you finish with your teeth, you get a dab of face wash and start to wash the makeup away.

You want to forget last night. You want to forget everything about yesterday. Mai's confession plays yet again, and Mokuba's words echo while you gently massage circles over your cheeks. Your eyes begin to water, and you tell yourself it's just because some soap must have gotten there, but soon you begin to have trouble breathing. A pain in your chest starts building, and before you know it, you're silently crying over the facet.

 _'I don't have time for this!'_ you mentally scold yourself. The reminder about Seto's meeting with president Miyamoto begins to sound so with one last jittery breath and a harsh rub of your eyes with the back of your hand, you begin to scrub your face raw. By the time you finish, your eyes are red more from the soap you harshly scrubbed into them than your actual crying. Your cheeks look red, as if you'd been out in the cold. And you have a well sized scratch on the bridge of your nose. Somehow, you managed to cut yourself thanks to your roughness.

You quickly do a milkmaid hairdo, and pin them with some of the extra bobby pins you always carry with you. Following this, you put on some mint flavored chapstick so your lips won't be so dry. You look yourself over, and with a nod decide you look decent. It's not much, and you honestly look like a young high schooler, but it's the best you can do at the moment.

You take a moment to mentally prepare yourself. However, it doesn't last long as your cell phone loudly blares out your next alarm, causing you to angrily turn and flip it off as if it had caused you personal pain and mayhem. You groan in annoyance you quickly turn it off and say, "Fuck this!"

With measured steps and strength, you pull the door open and stalk past Mai's bedroom. If you hadn't been so annoyed, you wouldn't have missed her sitting up in her bed, looking out the door waiting for you to pass. She comes out with quiet steps and leans against the door frame. After taking in your disgruntled form, she lightly asks, "You want some breakfast?"

You still immediately, and turn to her. She looks so fragile...

"I'm sorry, I can't right now. Mr. Kaiba has an important meeting soon, and I have to set up the presentation. Rain check?"

A small smile graces her lips as she nods in agreement. You smile in response and tell her you'll see her later.

Half an hour later, you pull into your parking spot and head up to your apartment. On your way there, you spot a familiar flash of black. You shake your head, assuming you're just seeing things because, honestly how long has it really been since you last saw the fucker here? As you pull out your keys to head in, a familiar voice stops you.

"You didn't spend the night at home?"

You can feel the blood drain from your face, but rather than get clammy how you expected, you become rather devoid of feelings. You turn and see Mokuba leaning against the banister, arms crossed, and irritation exuding off him in waves. You chew on your cheek thoughtfully, but rather than say anything, you just shake your head no. One of your eyebrows is just a barely raised, but you know that you probably are coming off as sassy, if not bitchy.

"Where'd you spend the night then?" He asks as he leans further back, legs lightly spreading so he can keep his balance. You blink slowly at him, trying to understand why he sounds so upset when you should be the one angry. Hell, part of you feels like you have every right to scream at the top of your lungs after what you found out. But you're better than that.

Cheaters don't deserve to make an impact on your life. Though, this one has, and you can't help worry. So, with no sarcasm in your tone, all you say is, "Unless you want to fall to your death, I wouldn't trust that banister. Stand up straight or lean against the wall."

He rolls his eyes at you, but obliges. Then he asks again. Since it's really none of his damn business, you answer vaguely: "With a friend. Why?"

He squints his eyes angrily at you. You hate to admit it, but a moody Mokuba is quite sexy. When he's moody, his jaw line gets emphasized, and so do his shoulders. And how you love those shoulders... How many times have you kissed them while he spent late nights trying to finish a project? How many times did you breath lightly over them as you headed towards his neck to tickle him, and then start a tickle way? How many times have you gripped those shoulders as he sucked on that oh so sensitive spot on your neck, and made you feel like the most precious treasure in the world to him?

That final memory causes you to focus, and harden your heart against anything he might have to say to you.

"You're wearing the same clothes as yesterday. If I didn't know you so well, I might have thought you were doing the walk of shame right now." The implication in his words causes your blood to boil, but you force yourself to keep level-headed in your response.

"Why are you assuming I'm sleeping around? Do you have something on your chest you'd like to tell me?"

Hey, you may be level-headed in your demeanor. That doesn't mean your anger won't seep into what you want to say. Going by his response, he didn't expect you to say that. His eyes widen in surprise, and his body bristles ever so briefly. You chew on the inside of your cheek to stop yourself from saying anything more, but the next alarm on your phone reminds you that you have business to attend to.

"You know what, I don't have time for this now. If you want to talk, talk to me after work. I have a job to do right now." You quickly slip into your apartment, attempting to shut Mokuba out as soon as possible, but he jams his shoe before it can close all the way. There is a slight hint of desperation in his eyes as he pushes the door far enough open to grab your wrist. With guilt written all over his features, he says, "Wait! I talked to Seto. He said he would be fine without you for a couple of hours! S-so, we have time... We can talk."

His lip shakes slightly as he looks over your face. He's never seen you look so... open. He can see the distrust etched on all your features, and the disgust as you pull arm away. You normally always keep a cool front. You're the calm one of a group, the smart one. You're the one that always has a plan, and who always stays level headed so you can see both sides of an argument. Yet, right now, you don't want to hear a single word out of his mouth.

You stomp your way towards your bathroom. He follows a few steps behind. At the door, you turn to face him and yell, "If you really wanted to talk so badly, why didn't you talk to me before deciding to throw yourself on my best friend? She didn't need that kind of baggage!" He takes a step towards you, explanations and excuses already ready to spill from his lips, but you slam the door in his face. You can't stand the sight of him anymore.

You roughly open the drawers under your sink and pull out your make-up. You ignore your flushed, livid face, and force yourself to calm down as you put on your foundation and primer. You still clench your jaw angrily as you put on your eye shadow. Even more so because, as you do your make-up, Mokuba continues to try to talk to you. He tries to tell you how he had a moment of weakness, and that since you kept pushing him away, stupidly he thought that you might have actually cheated. He swore that he didn't plan on cheating on you, and that it just happened. You scoff when he says that he didn't mean to hurt Mai, and especially not you. When you attempt to put on your eyeliner, a stream of curses leaves your lips because you're too irritated. You keep making the line too thick, and much too choppy. He asks if you're alright, and you fight the urge to tell him to fuck off. Instead you grit your teeth and icily respond, "Fine."

He stops talking— _'_ _Finally'_ —and you calm down, assuming that he left. You lean over the counter and take a deep breath. You weren't ready for that. As it was, you're still trying to come to terms with the fact that your best friend, of all people, was the person who slept with him. You had forgiven her right away because you could see how deeply, truly she regretted it. She didn't try to make excuses. She said what happened from her perspective, but still acknowledged that she should have stopped him, that she should have pulled away. That it was equally her fault, and that she would understand if you never forgave her. Yet, by owning up to what she did, that made you forgive her all the more easily. It was trusting her that was going to be hard to do right now.

But Mokuba, he didn't really do that, did he?

 _'How am I going to be able to keep working for Kaiba, if I can't stand being around this little fucker anymore?'_ you wonder. Part of you knows that this is coming out of anger. You don't really think of him like that, but you're upset. And damn it, you have a right to be!

A few stray tears escape the confines of your closed lids, but you quickly wipe them away. You can't go to work like this, so you're going to fake being alright until you get back home. Mokuba shouldn't be back after all. He had his chance to talk right now, even if you didn't want to listen.

When you finally finish, you don't look as polished as you usually do, but you still look nice. It's a different look for sure, you realize as you look over your light make-up and simple braids. Plus, the make-up helps you not look so young. That's important to you since, if you don't look like a full grown adult, you're experience has been that people will not hesitate to walk all over you. You're able to look more intimidating with makeup than you would without.

With satisfaction, you walk out of the bathroom and head to your room. You hesitate for a moment, suddenly wondering if Mokuba even bothered to lock the door. You check and see that it wasn't even closed. You roll your eyes and close it before heading back to your room. Another alarm rings. _'It's late.'_ You go to your room, pull out your black and white stripped dress, plus your yellow blazer, and start changing.

As you step out of your skirt, a voice from the corner of your room comes out.

"You're not wearing underwear?"

For a moment, panic swells within you, but you fight it off by defiantly pulling off yesterday's shirt and angrily pulling on your dress.

"Since I goddamn feel like it!" you retort.

You pull on your blazer and storm out. You quickly grab your keys and your phone, and march out. On your way to the door outside, you yell that everything better be exactly how you left it, and that he better be gone or else you're going to call the police on him. Before you can close the door behind you though, Mokuba smoothly walks around and ahead of you mumbling, "Don't bother. This, _us_ , wasn't even worth it."

Your breath gets caught in your chest, but you keep walking. He goes to the left, taking the long way out of the apartment complex, you go to the right, heading straight to your car to go out the garage gates.

It's once you get in your car and sit there for a minute that his words finally hit you.

Your final alarm goes off right as you begin to cry.

* * *

End Note: I'm sorry! Please forgive me, but I hope you still enjoyed.


	9. Chapter 9

AN: So sorry I took forever to update! I've been having really tough writers block plus a ton of homework and school stress to boot. Though, I recently discovered that yaois really get my creative juices flowing for some reason, so I guess I know what I need to do when I'm really stuck again. :3

* * *

"You're back early," Mr. Seto Kaiba comments as you walk into the conference room. You pull out some documents from the box you carry in your hands, and begin to arrange them on the table. You make sure each is set nicely, and ignore the calculating gaze burning a hole through your blazer and into your back. You walk away from him to check the coffee machine. Seto Kaiba may know how to make coffee to his taste, but not everyone is a fan of coffee as black as a Red Eyes Black Dragon's scales. Luckily enough, he hasn't started it yet so you begin to work on it before acknowledging your boss.

"I apologize for my tardiness. I should have come back sooner."

You hear a shuffling sound, and when you turn you see him leaning on the conference table, arms crossed, piercing eyes trained right on you. You ignore the uncomfortable silence as you continue with what you were doing; you've been dealing with it long enough to not be bothered anymore. Unfortunately, what you're not used to from him is compassion.

"Did something happen?"

It's a barely there question. So much so, you have to ask yourself if you really heard anything. But when you look up, you see the concern in his eyes. It's hidden, and honestly anyone who isn't used to his usual expression would think he was glaring, but the emotion is still there. You hesitate as you think on how to respond, but keep your steely face in light of the situation.

Rather than touch on the painful subject, you break the eye contact to look at the clock, then respond, "Sir, it's almost time for your meeting. I'll go see to president Miyamoto and escort him in shortly."

You can hear a small huff escape the older Kaiba, but continue on with your duties. It's all you could do at the moment so you wouldn't have to think about this morning. You find Mr. Miyamoto waiting in the lobby area, and lead him up to the conference room. You briefly inform him of the current plans Seto has for their project, and ask if there's anything he would like for you to take note of for the upcoming collaboration. After a few quick requests—mostly those dealing with privacy again—the meeting commences. During the meeting, you jot every note down, many times word for word. You find it very easy as time progresses to focus solely on the task at hand. Before you know it, the meeting is over, you have half a notebook worth of pages, and you feel your brain start to buzz. Little words and specific voices bubble up the surface, making you cringe. To avoid it, you decide to focus on a single task as soon as possible, and only focus on that.

The day drags away like that, wearing you down more than usual as you do all you can to avoid thinking. You even refuse to look at your phone as you know that will allow your mind to wander. You work tirelessly, even forgetting to go on your lunch break. By the time 5 pm rolls around, Seto is impressed to see a number of emails you had CC'ed him on for orders and meetings. You were on a roll.

Fortunately for you, that meant you had finished all your work early and had even gotten ahead.

Unfortunately, that also meant that you had a lot of free time for your mind to wander. That was something you _did not_ want to happen at all. By some miracle, Seto Kaiba had come to discover that he could be a gracious man as evidenced by the fact that he told you to leave early for the day. He, in contrast, stayed behind to work on some proposals for the project with president Miyamoto.

 _'The man never sleeps,'_ you think to yourself passively as you grab your bag and head out.

You tap your fingers against your thigh as you walk, thinking about the various things you did during the day. You play each thing out in your head and look for any flaws you may have missed, or mistakes you may need to correct. You begin to plan what else you can do tomorrow so you can be as efficient as today, and hope that a lot of work will come up before the end of the night so you won't have to think again tomorrow.

You head down the hall leading to the elevator. You feel yourself slow suddenly, your mouth growing dry, but continue repeating the message you had written earlier to thank Mr. Miyamoto for meeting with Kaiba Corps. today. You take a shaky breath as you get in arms reach of the elevator doors. But before you are able to push the elevator button to head down, the bell suddenly chimes, and the doors open.

You can repeat messages and busy your mind with clunky information, but that doesn't change the fact that when a problem is right before you, it can't be avoided. Your tapping fingers still on your thighs, your index finger still poised in the air, ready to come down. Your breath stills in your throat, and your eyes begin to water from the lack of blinking.

The vice president keeps still for a bit, but strides past you without a word. The doors begin to close before you, but you reach out your hand at the last second. You are half disappointed that the sensors recognized your hand as the doors closing around you present a welcome distraction to your sudden torrent of thoughts and emotions. You clench your jaw, and take precise steps into the elevator, making sure to lean away from the camera once inside, and quickly pull out your phone.

You need to talk to someone, but you can't talk to Mai right now. That wound is still too fresh.

You need to talk to someone you've always been able to trust. Someone who's always looks out for you, and makes you feel better by just being herself.

You go through your contacts and look through the N section. Quickly you find the contact you were searching for, and hit "Dial."

After a few rings, you hear a chipper, "Hello?"

You smile softly, pulling into yourself and close your eyes. It's been a while since you last saw each other, but she'll always be the same Naoko. You quickly clear your throat and then respond, "Hey sis! Long time no see. How've you been?"

A happy, "(Y.N.)!" sounds out from the phone. You have to pull your phone away from the sudden loudness, but laugh just the same from hearing the excitement.

Yes. The person you needed most right now is your dear sister, because your little sister is a sweetheart, and she will always be by your side if you ask. Besides, it's been long enough since you talked to your very own Snow White. Time to get an update on her, and see if maybe she'd like a roommate for a few days…


	10. Chapter 10

When you get home that night, you're still busy listening to the chatter coming from your phone. It's an exciting chatter, one that has you smiling and sighing with contentment. The last time you saw your little sister, you were 17 and had just graduated. You two were very close, but you didn't want her to know what happened to you. You didn't want her to be affected by it, the way it affected you. There was enough tension in the house because of the problems with your older sister. Speaking of...

"Hey, Naoko. How's Sachi?"

She quiets down suddenly. Nervousness begins to build in your stomach, and soon you find yourself chewing on your lip anxiously as you wait. When she finally speaks again, she says, "She's... she's getting help." She doesn't sound convinced, but you don't want to push it, so you ask her about work instead. She's very excited about all the possibilities since she just graduated, though, "I still haven't found a job just yet," she confesses. You smile reassuringly at her instinctively, despite the fact that she's not here to see it. Still, you know she hangs on your words of advice ready to come at any second, because that's how it's always been between you two.

"Why don't you come over here?"

Wait, that's not right. Weren't you suppose to give her some advice?

"There's more job opportunities in Domino than back home, and you do need some experience living on your own, right?" This was definitely not what you were going to tell her, what you were even supposed to tell her. For crying out loud, you were calling so you could see if maybe you could go over with _her_. Not the other way around!

You pull the phone away from your ear as you stare in confusion for a second and process what you just said. But before you can recant your words, or give her the advice she needs, her excited words ring out loudly. "Are you saying I can live with you?"

Your breath hitches as your mouth moves to respond before your mind can tell it what to say. It's been so long, the yes tumbles out of your mouth before you can think to do anything contrary to that. But as the situation begins to set in, part of you desperately wants to say, _"No, I'm sorry. What I meant to say is-"_

Say what? That you didn't want her here? That you didn't want to see her? No, that's not it. You desperately do want to see her. She's the only person in your life that can bring you any sense of ease just by being near you. Even when you two were younger and would fight with one another. After the anger would ebb away, you'd find her hugging your waist tightly for no reason other than, "I sorry... I love you, onii-chan." You would always play with her hair, and brush it out of her eyes just because you loved how soft it was, and couldn't help playing with it. You would carry her around on your back, and she would always laugh so joyously. Sometimes, you would see her like a daughter instead of a sister since you were so protective of her. Maybe that was in part because you're a good couple of years older than her. But sometimes your disagreements would be so petty and childish, you were glad to say she was your sister. Usually as you would smack her in the face with a pillow too. When your father would scold you, telling you that you were too old to be acting like this, you would usually respond with, _"But that's what sisters do, dad!"_

No, it's too late now. Your sis is coming, and frankly, you're really excited now. How long has it been? There were the four years of college, that one year as a temp, those two years doing photography gigs once people started to notice some of your work, and... Well, these 9 months so far at Kaiba corps. Almost eight years. That means your sister's... She's about to turn 21! Yeah, you definitely need her here. You don't need Sachi to repeat that failed "fun" birthday bash that she done for you, but with your sweet little Snow White now.

At the thought of that, you ask a little too quickly, "So, around when can you head over? I'll have everything all set up so you won't have to worry about a thing, ok?" A quiet little squeal resounds in your ears thanks to your dear little sister, and she says she'll start making preparations tomorrow. By the time you hang up your phone, you've barely closed the door to your apartment. Looking around you realize, this place is a mess; a tiny one to boot. You walk towards the outlet besides the couch, kicking off our shoes on way over, and plug your phone into the charger. When you get back up, you rest your knees against the arm rest, and let yourself flop backwards.

As you stare at the ceiling, a million thoughts run through your head. You need to clean the house. Make sure to stock up on groceries so there's enough for the both of you. Maybe get that cake mix so you can make that desert mom used to do, and try to get the recipe down before Snow arrives. And definitely work things out with Mai because she's got a lot of connections, and those connections can really help Naoko find a job if she decides to go for them. You look at the clock slightly above your head, and sigh.

"I have a week. I need to make it count."


	11. Chapter 11

_'Nagasaki train, arriving in 5 minutes,'_ you read off of the departure and arrival board. Your sister is only about 5 hours away by train from Domino city, but preparations for her departure took a while. Your dad is much older now, and so very worn down from the life he's had... Therefore, people needed to be called. You sent your sister a hefty amount of money to pay for some groceries to be sent to his home, as well as to have some nurses stop by occasionally to check how he was doing, if he was taking his medicine, and overall if his vitals were ok. Naoko had to explain a lot of this to him, but lucky she was good about being discreet. He was none the wiser that you had anything to do with the preparations. As for Sachi, there's not much you can do. You don't have access into her medical records, and she'd be very upset if you did anything to undermine the control she has of her life. Though you'd like to do something to help her too, that was a bridge that was hard to rebuild.

You look around the train station nervously. Various people come and go. Some carry luggage bags, obviously in a hurry to arrive somewhere. Others go with nothing more than a small briefcase. There's something about train stations that always puts you on edge. Right now, the nervousness over seeing your sister after so many years is your main concern. You wonder if you'll recognize her. If she'll recognize you! Had she painted her hair at all? Would your braided hairstyle make you look too differently? Would she still look like that sweet little 13 year old you left behind, or would she have the face of a young woman ready to face the world?  
So many questions run through your head, you nearly miss the graceful figure walking through the doors of the luggage area, bags in tow. She looks around cautiously, apprehensive as she walks past strangers. When you catch sight of her shorter figure, tiptoeing to get a better look around and huffing when a man decides to stop right in front of her and get upset that _she_ didn't move around him, you almost laugh. She's still scary as ever, as evidenced by the way the man begins to shuffle nervously in place as he tries to look for more reasons to insult her. You walk briskly over to help her out if she needs it, but her deadpan can make anyone run for the hills if they aren't prepared for it. She's a beauty, and usually all smiles. Anyone, even those who don't know her, can feel that personality radiate off her. So when she _doesn't_ smile, it's like being really high up in the mountains all of a sudden. It's like lying down, and suddenly getting up too quickly. Her lack of smiles and warmth feels wrong, and the discomfort caused by that is more than just a little disorienting. You smirk as you sneak around the two figures- one shuffling and continuing to try to say why he deserves an apology; the other starring in annoyance, and blinking in such a slow manner the precious few times she does, one would think time slowed down around her. You quietly walk behind her and wrap one arm around her shoulder.

"Excuse me, _sir_? I believe you owe my sister here an apology." You glare at the man with such malice, his voice stills in a sudden squeak. Naoko continues deadpanning, practically not breathing as the man's confidence dies in his breath. In a quick flurry of movement, the man both curses your faces and begs for forgiveness as he scrambles away backwards as fast as he can. After a few seconds of starring at his retreating form, the figure under your arm behind to relax her taut muscles and looks up at you.

"(Y.N.)?" a quiet, soft voice asks. You turn towards her, staring at her much older, yet still identical face. The beauty mark under her left eye and her soft fair skin look exactly the same, but her eyes are older, the lines around her mouth just a tad bit more prominent. As she smiles, recognition washing over her too, you catch sight of the little curve of her lips that you know must have made all the boys back home wild with the intense desire to kiss her. A grin grows on your face, and the sides of your eyes crinkle with joy as it finally hits you that your baby sister is in front of you.

"Snow!" you exclaim as you wrap your other arm around her form and squeeze her as tightly as you can. You can hear her laugh, albeit with a bit of a struggle as she tries to breath, but you're so excited! You take two of her bags, her duffle bag, and one luggage case off of her hands, get a form grip of her fingers, and quickly yank her forward.

"I have so much to show you!" you yell over your shoulder as you drag her to your car. Right now, having your baby sister here in front of you, being in your home, and having so many things you want to show her at your fingertips... Well, not even the Kaiba brothers can ruin this for you!

 _Riiiiing~!_

Ok, they may not be able to ruin it, but they maybe they might be able to dampen the day just a smidge...


	12. Chapter 12

"Sorry for the delay, Mr. Kaiba," you call frantically as you enter his office. In your hands, you carry a box of files and transactions in relation to the Miramoto and Fujioka deals. It turns out that there was an embezzler found working between those two companies, and Kaiba is in a rush to make sure that Kaiba Corps won't be embroiled in any messy legal battles because of that greedy lawyer. It wouldn't be such a problem, if only he wasn't a recently departed employee. Now, you must ascertain the time line. Figure out when he started working with the offended companies, and confirm that he in no way sullied the Kaiba Corps name by virtue of his position.

You hurry over to the conference table and begin laying out the documents related even by the most minute detail to either the companies or this lawyer. Likewise, Kaiba takes out his own documents and notes about each meeting with either company, or while in the presence of Shimahebi.

He seemed a very trustworthy man. His advice was sensible, and his manners always polite and tact. You would never have suspected him of doing something so underhanded, but it seems that yet again you were wrong about how you perceived a particular _nice_ male.

As all your attention is set on making sure this lawyer hasn't caused too much trouble that you'll have to deal with during the time your little Snow White is here, it takes a moment for you to catch the clearing of your boss's throat as he tries to get your attention. When he does, his right brow is arched ever so dangerously as his cold blue eyes pierce through you. For a moment, you almost voice your annoyance with, _"Seriously?! I thought we were past this 'annoyed-condescending' gimmick!"_ But as you open your mouth to say so, he cuts you off and asks, "Care to explain who you brought with you?"

You turn in time to see your dear little sister in the middle of wrapping her mouth around a Kitsu Katsu bar she bought you on the way over. The pure shock splashed across her face, and embarrassment from the sudden attention paints her face quite vividly, and you can't help but laugh.

 _'Of course he'd have a problem with Naoko being here. He might very well think that she's here to spy on him or something,'_ you think to yourself with a shake of your head. You get his attention back on you to help her escape his piercing gaze, then respond.

"I couldn't very well just leave her cooped up in my apartment. I don't really have much in the way of entertainment for one, nor fresh food for the other. I'd have to have gone grocery shopping, and would have also had to buy a couple of movies for her. Not to mention, make sure no one would drop by uninvited. I mean, unless you wanted to wait an extra two hours or so for me to get here and start working on this problem?"

He squints his eyes with malice at you. You in turn cross your arms under your bust, and straighten your back. Your own brow jumps up in a questioning look. You feel yourself starting to get combative, confrontational. But this is what you and old Kaiba were like. You would get your job done—very well you would like to add, though always to his displeasure—and he would always begrudgingly accept that he couldn't fire you right then and there. Though, this is the first time you did something pretty careless without a justifiable reason. You brought your sister along because you didn't think about the fact that you should probably drop her off at home. It _was_ on the way back to Kaiba Corps. The whole stuff about entertainment and food was just quick thinking—though very much true.

Right now, all you have at home is a carton of (probably spoiled) milk, some pretty old burned lasagna, and a lot of canned fruit and bags of granola because that's the only semi-healthy food you've been able to make sure you eat daily. A surprise really, considering how mama bear you get about your friends and Mokuba eating right...

And as for entertainment, well... Mokuba was usually in charge of that for the most part. Mokuba or Mai actually. You guys would go out to eat together, or to watch a movie. Or skating, or bowling, or to do karaoke, or... Honestly, you aren't a very exciting person unless you have someone drag you out. The rest of the time, you spend reading up on photography, and trying to make affordable lighting equipment so you can have better shots to make your portfolio stand out more.

Now that you think about it, you haven't done anything to help out your photo career in a while. Sure, you've been reading a lot more on techniques, and how to work in particular areas. You've also been looking into modeling more so that you can help tell your models how to move so that they get into the position you need, or get the expression you want so the shot can come out as desired.

And staring at Kaiba at the moment, you can't help but notice how well the blue of his tie really makes the blue of his eyes pop. And that the way his jaw is clenched at the moment really elongates his cheeks, making his cheek bones stand out a bit more. Plus, with the way the sunlight is coming in through the windows in that perfect key light angle, he just looks stunning.

 _'Wow, how did I never notice how sharp those lines are?'_ you find yourself wondering, your shoulders starting to relax as you begin to take in the image before you. But just like that, you're snapped out of your photographer mode when he suddenly turns his back on you, and demands you each get back to the business at hand.

"I'll let your irresponsibility slide this once, but don't do it again," he tells you. Then he turns to your sister and says, "And you better not go telling any journalists or any of my business rivals about what you see here.

Naoko rolls her eyes as she waives her hand dismissively at him. You watch with amusement as his eyes widen slightly at her complete disinterest in what he has to say, and have to pretend to cough when his chest jumps in surprise at how she just goes back to enjoying those sweet little Kitsu Katsu bars that survived the trip over. You do envy her ability to be able to eat so many sweets yet never really have it show, but right now, her fast metabolism and deadpan annoyance are a godsend. You take back every jealous remark you've ever made. His annoyed huff and her complete disregard over a man who almost everyone is terrified of makes this moment so much sweeter.

You grab a blank sticky note off of the pile, and begin scribbling on it as you talk to your sister.

"Ok, so Naoko, you can wait in my office. If you sign in with the LivZom profile, and use AmAlreadyDead15 as the password, you can mess around on Photoshop, or look around online."

You walk over to her and kiss her hair, completely ignoring the confused grimace she's throwing at you, and put the note in her hands. On it are the username, password, and directions to your office. It's not really far from here, but you don't want her to accidentally get locked in a closet. Yes, that doesn't happen to most people; BUT, you can't let that possibly happen to your sister the way it happened to you.

Once she's out, you get back to business and begin scanning the documents and scribbling notes on various papers. Kaiba momentarily looks at you with bemused wonder, but soon continues on with his own endeavor.

You are both on a mission to clear the company, and honestly, you two make a good team. By the time you two are finished, and you have exhausted every possible scenario that might cause any company to take legal action against you. There's only one thing that could get the company in trouble, but it's such a miniscule possibility, so un-extraordinary and insignificant, only a super anal person with a tree up their ass might use it against them.

The sun is long gone, and the moon which begins to peak just slightly besides the skyscrapers in the distance reminds you that your sister must be starving and bored out of her mind. You turn away from the window, about to voice your concern when Kaiba cuts in.

"When was the last time you ate?"

You blink, surprised, and look towards the clock. Your heart thumps uncomfortably as you see Kaiba begin to loosen his tie and take off his jacket.

"We, uh, didn't actually eat before coming," you reply as you lick your now chapped lips and shuffle towards the door.

Moments ago, you'd been craving some of that ridiculous American chocolate your sister insisted on buying to give you luck. Right now, your hunger is forgotten as fear induced adrenaline starts to kick in and makes you question what is going through your cold boss's mind at the moment. He's so stoic; only his actions ever actually give you any hints as to what he's feeling. And right now, he's showing skin. He's rolled up his sleeves and loosened his collar. His jaw is tense, and he seems to be gnawing on something.

Last time he looked like this...

Well, the last and only time was when he manhandled you, when he forced himself on you and made you hate his guts.

It was when he attacked you.

Your breathing starts to quicken as you walk backwards towards the door. You try to remain calm as you say, "Well, it's been a long day and I think my sister is really hungry by now. I'll have to go now."

At "now," you fumble with the door knob as you try to get out quickly but discreetly.

"Wait," he calls out. He takes quick, wide steps towards you. His long body reaches you sooner than you'd like and you instinctively flinch. Your arm goes up to cover your face, fist clenched and arm completely tense. Your breath stills in your chest, and you fall flat against the door as you involuntarily try to get away. Kaiba catches you by the elbows, but let's go as soon as you catch yourself.

After a moment, he says, "...I cancelled my dinner meeting to deal with the issue Kodama created. I was just going to ask if you and your sister would like to take the reservation at Narisawa as I never called to inform them of the change of plans."

He looks you up and down, waiting for your response, but thoroughly analyzing your reaction. You seem too jumpy right now, and he assumes it to be because of how hard you've been working.

Seto Kaiba works tirelessly and endlessly, but because he's always had to. He doesn't know how to stop. But, despite his apathy and lack of humanity at times, he can tell when others need rest. And you most certainly need rest.

Plus, Kaiba knows how important younger siblings can be to people like you and him.

He takes a step backwards when he sees that you're still frozen in your spot, and lets you relax. Once you're no longer filled with wide eyed, horribly concealed terror, he reaches around you and opens the door.

"We'll go there right now then. Hurry, or else we'll be late."

Kaiba walks around you and strides his way down towards your office. He opens the door wide enough to lean his torso in, then calls out, "You. Let's go; you're going to dinner."

Naoko shuffles out awkwardly, looking around in bewilderment until she spots you. Her head lightly shakes as her hands go up, making her hunch her shoulders as she mouths, "What?"

You waive your hand dismissively, but grasp hers once you're within each other's space. You whisper to not question him, then squeeze her hand reassuringly. The ride down is quiet, and unfortunately quite tense. You try to think of something to say to help ease the tension, but nothing comes to mind. It isn't until Naoko finally pipes up that the quiet is relieved—sort of.

"So, what are we eating?"

You open your mouth to respond, only to find, you have no idea. You've heard of the oh-so-popular Narisawa, but usually, guests have to book a good month in advance to be able to go. And considering the price range, you never really have had the opportunity to try it out yourself. Now that you think about it, this is quite exciting.

Kaiba cuts your sudden buzz of excitement when he curtly responds, "You'll see when we get there."

He sounds much like a tired dad having to respond to an energetic child's 100th, _"Are we there yet?"_

You smirk at the imagery, then find yourself hugging Naoko tightly to your chest in that motherly way you have a tendency of falling into. The elevator bell rings, and the door opens. You see Kirito look over his shoulder with a casual smile, then nervousness overcomes his face as he straightens up at the sight of Kaiba. He wishes you all a goodnight as best as he can despite his stutters, which only go away when he catches sight of one person. It doesn't escape your notice the way his eyes linger on Naoko, and how a light blush dusts his cheeks when she waives back, wishing him a goodnight as well.

 _'Aw, he has a crush~! How cute!'_ you think to yourself as you observe him through the reflective walls along the way out. Naoko is none the wiser though as she brushes her fringe away from her face.

On the way to the car, you ask your little Snow White what she wants to do tomorrow. You're none the wiser to how your boss slows down his steps by half a second to listen; you only have ears for your sister.

"I was kinda hoping we could go dancing," she responds as you all turn into the parking structure besides Kaiba Corps. As you walk down the slight downward slope, a small half smile pulls on the corner of your mouth as your face turns into a look of mock shock.

"My Snow goes out dancing? Since when? No, forget that. Where?"

Your sister laughs as she shakes her head knowingly. Your hometown is very small, and so are the nearest towns over. There were no clubs or pretty much any places to go dancing—except maybe people's houses. Those were always awkward though because the host's parents or other older relatives were there, and you could always feel their judgmental stares.

Your first time dancing wasn't until you became friends with Mai and she took you to a small club downtown. That place was more a bar than a club, but the music was popping, and the place was packed. After Mai convinced you to get at least a single drink, your discomfort with all these people bumping into you started melting away, and you really enjoyed yourself.

You love dancing, and you know Naoko will too. You watch in amusement as she begins fiddling with her soft black hair and hiding around as she starts trying to ease her way into trying to convince you: "Well, it's not like I've _actually_ gone dancing. You know how it is back home. But, when I was riding over here on the train, I was reading up on what are the best things to do in the city, and clubs just, kept coming up. One place said it was a SIX story club! And every section has its own kind of music and ambiance, and it sounds _reeaally_ cool, and can we go? Pleeeeeaaaaaase?"

You laugh kindly at your sister, her enthusiasm impossible to ignore. You reply that of course you can and as she wiggles her torso, fists close to her side and pumping in triumph, you begin to head towards your car.

"Where are you going?" Kaiba snaps.

You hesitate before answering, but still point to your car as you unassuredly say so. He shakes his head and responds that you don't know the way, and that you have to get there with a certain amount of time. He doesn't give you time to argue, but any argument that you might have thrown is quickly lost in your throat when he grabs your hand and pulls you to the elevator leading to his car.

Naoko squeezes your hand in surprise right as you jump, but you both say nothing. You're surprised to see how warm his hand is, and to feel how large his are compared to yours.

His grip is nothing like Mokuba's...

Inside the elevator, his hold on your hand loosens a bit, letting most of your hand free, but he doesn't let go. You're still in enough shock that you honestly don't know whether to pull away or not yourself. He doesn't seem to mind the contact though—surprisingly—so you end the elevator ride with two of your fingers wrapped by his.

Dinner was already beginning to feel awkward, but now what are you supposed to do?


End file.
